Harry Potter and the Winter Lily
by Tollkeeper
Summary: Back at Privet drive after another year at Hogwarts. After the loss of his godfather he try to overcome his sorrow and guilt, can this strange girl he meet help him and make his time before he can go back to Hogwarts more bearable?
1. A strange girl in the night(1)

Some crickets could be heard in the evening night, in a small park in Little Whinging a young boy was sat on an swing. He did not swing just sitting there in his own thoughts. Looking at him you would just see an ordinary boy maybe a little thin and whit clothes way to big for him, slightly crocked glasses on his nose and some messy black hair covering his forehead and his famous scar. Harry Potter the boy who lived who only one year old survived the killing curse that killed his parents and so many others the dark lord wanted dead. The dark lord had disappeared after his failure to kill this boy thought to be dead.  
Harry had after that night survived the dark lord several times but some people around him had not been so lucky. 1 year ago at the eve of the dark lords return Cedric Diggory had to pay the ultimate prize for just being at the wrong place in the wrong time, something that still lay as an heavy burden upon Harry's shoulders but even more recently his godfather Sirius Black had died by the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry had seen visions of the Dark Lord torturing his godfather and had set out whit some of his friends to save him, but it had all been a trap and in the end Sirius had been one of those who had come to save Harry.

The guilt that he had been the one who got Sirius to run out of hiding to save him and die because of it was unbearable. He had been told so many times that he had to close down his mind so the Dark Lord wouldn't be able to read him but he had not done enough. Now here he sat knowing that the one person he felt was like a father to him was gone, the one person he could tell anything. Harry had other people in his life that he knew he could trust but some things were so hard to talk about. His best friends would always worry so when he told them about things like his scar and the headmaster had ignored him the whole year. But he missed them all so much, but it was the summer break which meant he was stuck whit his aunt and uncle 2 muggles who despised him, he could not talk to them about the hurt he felt, he could not even tell them his "murderous" godfather was dead, it had been the only thing that kept them bearable these last 2 years. He hoped the would be allowed to go to the burrow to his friends the Weasleys soon so he would have some company but as it was now he was stuck here, all alone.

Sitting there in his own gloom he did not notice the girl walking in to the park neither did he notice how she was walking towards the swing set he at the moment were occupying. He could suddenly hear footsteps followed by a girls voice

"Good evening! Is it alright if I join you here?" The girl sounded happy but talk whit a little strange accent.

"Yeah sure.." Harry answered without looking up.

"Aha okay! I am Hanna by the way" Hanna said cheerily she looked at him and her voice got a little worried "Are you alright?"

Just what I needed... Harry thought to himself wanting to be left alone "I have had better days."

"I see" Hanna said taking a seat on the swing next to Harry's still looking at him she asked "Anything you would like to talk about?"

Harry glanced toward her, she was about his age whit long brown hair going down her back she wore glasses and he couldn't really see her eyes that well in the dark. After a few seconds she put a hand on her face at when she removed it it kinda looked like she had a small blush. "I am sorry, you don't know me, I don't know you just I don't like seeing people sad." she was talking faster the word and ended whit a "Ehhemm."

Harry looked at this girl whit a puzzled look but couldn't help smiling a little bit, she was a bit strange but it look like she wanted him well, he had wanted to be whit his friends to have to talk to maybe he shouldn't give this girl the cold shoulder, who else did he have here? Except Hedwig of course. Not sure how to respond Harry vent whit a 'hello'. "Hello Hanna, my name is Harry, uh it is nice to meet you"

The girl gave Harry a big smile to his respond "It is nice to meet you to Harry, I am new around here so I don't really know that much people."

So she is new here that explains why I don't recognize he, and her funny way of talking. "So you moved here recently?"

"Yes, I moved her last week, I am from Sweden, so I am not that great at English but I hope to get better whit it soon."

"I don't think it is too bad" Harry got a big smile in response to that.

"Well thank you! Is it okay to ask why you are here alone?" She gave him an quizzical yet worried look. "I don't want to pry and if you don't want to talk about it is it's alright, just that it looks like you should be whit friends right now."

Harry gave a sigh, and thought to himself if he wanted to talk about it and how much, he can't really tell this random muggle girl that Lord Voldermort it out to kill him and thanks to that his godfather got murdered, but talking had previously helped him to calm down his sad feelings.

"Well, I don't really have any friends to talk to.. " He saw her eyes widening and that she was about to say something "I mean, I do have friends and good ones but not here, I will not see them until I go back to school."

"Being far from your friends can be hard, so you miss your friends?"

"I do" Harry started wondering how much he should tell. "But I will see them soon enough, we can always write in the meantime. I just my.. my godfather" Harry could feel his throat clump up and how is eyes was burning, but he would not cry not now. "My godfather died.. last week.."

"Oh Harry! I am so sorry.. were you close?"

"We were, he was like the closest thing to a parent I had, I could always talk to him, he always knew what to do.." Do not cry, do not cry.. Harry got a little startled as he could feel a hand on his back gently stroking him.

"It sounds like he was an wonderful man and cared allot for you." Harry could not stop a sob and then an another one and without thinking he answered.

"He cared to much.. otherwise he would not have come to save me.. it was my..fa.. " Harry then quiet down, he could not say all this, how could he explain it

"He saved you?"

Harry did not know what to do anymore, he was about to cry the guilt was burning his eyes, all he could do was to bit down trying not to let any more sobs escape, he had said to much he neither could or wanted to explain what happen that night at the ministry of magic all he wanted was to find somewhere to hide from his feeling hide from this girl, he did not want her to see him cry he did not want anybody to see it. He put his face in his hands and started to breathe slowly inn and out.

"Harry, it is alright, let it out." He could feel how the girls arms embraced him, he hadn't notice when she stood up or that he had for that matter, he did not care he answered the hug and started to cry. whispering "I am so sorry Sirius, I am so sorry" to himself. He did not know how long he stood there he was just dimly aware of arms stroking his back and a shoulder getting more and more damp. After a while he lifted the head and looked down and saw a face looking up on him, 2 brown eyes whit just some small hints of green looked whit sympathy at him he could now also see that the girl had some freckles around her nose, Harry could feel how his neck felt rather stiff the girl was a bit shorter then him then he saw the wet spot of her shoulder and let go of her and soon after she let go of him.

"I am sorry! I did not mean to.. " He got out before she gave him a small little sad smile.

"It is alright, I hugged you first and it looks like you needed one."

"Your shirt it is.. "

"It will dry don't you worry, do you feel any better?"

"Maybe.. a little. This is one kind of first impression I guess" Harry said trying to smile a bit and got some giggles in response.

"Heh, I have seen worse.. hey it is nothing to be ashamed off, but remember well now Harry. "

"huh, remember what?"

"You owe me a hug now!" Hanna said whit a big smile.

Harry and Hanna left the park shortly walked away. Hanna told Harry that she had moved to England becuse her mother had got a new rather important job, governmental of the sound of it. Hanna talked about Värmland the part of Sweden she came from and told about the vast forest and all the wildlife she saw when she was out in the nature. They soon arrived at Privet drive and was closing in number 4.

"Well this is my 'home' " It looked like Hanna had noticed how he had said home but she did not say anything about it.

"Well, maybe time to go home then? You want to meet up tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure, I have some chores to do so it would be sometime in the afternoon say 3?"

"Works for me, then I come over by then."

"NO.. I mean.. My aunt and uncle don't like me having people over. It would be better if we meet somewhere else, we the park maybe?" Hanna gave Harry a very suspicious look but then just smiled again.

"That works for me!, sleep well now Harry!"

"You too!" Before Harry knew it he had gotten a hug and Hanna was walking away.

Harry walked in to number 4 Privet drive he open and closed the door as quiet he could and snuck up to his room.

Harry laid down on hi bed and thought about what just had happen, he had meet this rather strange girl that he cried in front of but she still wanted to see him again, well she was loads better company then the Dursleys. Who knows maybe this summer just had become a little more bearable. 

* * *

A/N: Another of my brainchild from my glorious night job, get way to much free time whit my brain. This did not end up as I pictured it, it is so much easier in the head during work then here when I get home but I hope you like it, it is rather interesting to write :)

If anybody wonders about my other story, I have not abounded it, my "creativity" just fancied this story more tonight.


	2. What's some ice cream among friends?(2)

Before he woke up he knew where he was, even in his state not really awake not really asleep Harry could feel the lumpy mattress that informed him that he was at the Dursleys, the thing was that he did not feel the usual dread feeling he felt when he was there. Harry open his eyes and he was in 'his' room. It took him a moment to remember what had happen the day before. He had meet a strange girl at the park, she had seamed very friendly and..? Harry massage his temple, had he cried in front of this strange girl? No not only in front of her, he had cried it to this unknown girls shoulder, the feeling of dread was back.  
He did not like to cry in front of his friends, well Harry did not really like crying very much, at the Dursleys it always just got him in to more trouble if he cried so he soon learned not to let anybody see it and even whit his best friends he did what he could to hide it. The result of this was that he had snapped at his friends a few to many times.

He would see Ron and Hermione again when Dumbledore let him leave his aunt and uncle which could not come soon enough. So while he waited for a chance to leave maybe a friendly person could make it less miserable. Then he remembered that he had agreed to meet the girl again later that day, not sure why she would want to, sad people usually wasn't very fun to be around. He did feel better not sure if it was because he had a cry or the fact that he had something to look forward too.

Harry put on some clothes and grimace, he only had Dudleys old clothes that fit him as well as Malfoy in Hufflepuff a mental image that made Harry snigger. It was rather strange, in the wizarding world Harry had quite allot of money inherent from his mother and father while here in the muggle world he had to wear oversize hand me down clothes, sometimes he thought that he should just exchange some Galleons to sterling and buy some muggle things like clothes that fit but as he did spend as little time as possible whit muggles it felt like it didn't really matter.

Harry could hear his uncle complain downstairs so he mentally prepared himself to have some breakfast whit his 'family'.  
After an mostly uneventful breakfast he was told to work in the garden, apparently weeds and grown freely while he had been gone and it was his job to remove them.  
Harry's gardening took the rest of the morning vent way past lunchtime before he was done, crawling around on all four in the gazing sun had been no fun task sweat glistening on his face and running down his back. It was at times like this he missed Sprout's lessons that was much more interesting then working at his aunts garden even if herbology wasn't his favorite class.

A short shower later Harry put on some new still badly fitting clothing, it was soon time for him to go out and meet the strange girl again, he felt a bit excited having an reason to leave the house but also felt a twinge of nervousness, he had broken down in front of her, Harry took a couple of deep breaths and told himself that it wouldn't happen again, this time he would just be plain Harry excluding the wizard part.

It was a quarter to three when Harry arrived at the the park and he could see Hanna already there sitting on one of the swings, when he got closer to her she looked up and saw him, Harry thought she an strange expression on her face but it was gone just as fast as it had appeared and was changed to a bright smile as she stood up from the swing and walked up to meet him.

"Hello Harry!" She said brightly, her accent was a bit funny, she pronounced the 'A' in Harry's name was different.

"Hi Hanna" Harry said and was soon embraced by the girl, if she kept this up he would soon have had more hugs from her then all his other friends combined, where all Swedish girls like this?

"How are you doing today?" Harry thought he could see a bit of worry in her face as he asked.

"I am alright, I was not at my best yesterday, sorry about that."

"Don't say that!" She almost snapped taking him by surprise.

"Alright, it is not the greatest time right now, but I am feeling better today" He paused for a moment "He wouldn't want me to stop living. I wonder, if we maybe could pretend that last night didn't happen"

"Oh? You are not getting of that easy, you still owe me that hug" Hanna's voice was stern but her act was completely ruin by her face that did not match her voice.

"Well, you just got one?"

"No, if I need a real one you owe me one." She blinked at him "If there is anything you can talk to me, I know we don't really know each other but, I am good at talking.. I think."

"I appreciate it, thank you" Harry said while thinking _But I have no intention of crying in front of you again. "_ How are you doing then?"

"Great! It is a nice day and I get to spend it whit you." Harry was not sure what to answer to that. "Maybe a little to nice I think I'll melt, want to go for some ice cream?"

"Eh, I am good, but if you want some I can keep you company." Not having money even for ice cream Harry had to decline, his mind vent back to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley, he would have to get some ice cream there next time he was in Diagon Alley.

"Are you sure?" Hanna gave him an quizzical look.

"Yeah, I don't really want any ice cream myself, but as I don't mind if you want to get one."

"Then it is my treat!" She said beaming at him

"No you don't need to, I don't want any." Harry protested, after crying on her shoulder the first time they meet, he would not have her buy things for him.

"I will buy ice cream for us both and there is nothing you can do about it!"

"Hanna, I " Harry started before he was interrupted by Hanna

"I do want ice cream, but I will not enjoy it if you just stand by me while I eat it, I could go alone and it the ice cream but that would be no fun either as I was looking forward to spending the day whit you. The third option would be to just skip the ice cream all together but that is no good as I do want ice cream. So what do you say Harry?"

Harry just looked at the girl, she was full on arguing why he should be treated to an ice cream even tho he said no, what was whit this girl?

"Looks like you don't have any better options, so I will get you an ice cream! So just tell me what's your favorite or I will buy you green pistachio ice cream and force feed you" And her smiling face suddenly turned to an glare and Harry almost took a step back, but then the smile returned and she took his hand and dragged him along, even if Harry could have resisted he just let himself go along and soon she let go of his hand as they walked on the warm sunlit day.  
Harry still was not sure what he was to make of this girl, she was friendly and smiled allot but he barley knew her and she still treated him like.. what?  
Sure he and Ron had become friends almost instantly during the Hogwarts express but this girl was very fast whit treating him like they had been friends for years.  
Then a scary thought came to him, did she act like this because she felt sorry for him? She had found him he was at the brink of tears and had seen him crying and he didn't really dress that well whit Dudley's old clothes, the feeling that he maybe just was a charity case made him feel cold.

"Hey Harry?" Harry blinked and realized that he had followed her on autopilot not really talking or looking at her. "You are not mad are you?"

"What mad? No should I be?"

"No, I am treating you to ice cream so you better not be." She said in a overly serious tone and playfully nudged his arm. "So what is it to do around here during summer? More then eating ice cream."

This question somewhat took Harry of guard even if it was a completely normal question for somebody who had recently moved in, he guessed there were lots of things to do around in summer but between being locked in a cupboard under the stairs or his room or being bullied by Dudley he hadn't had any fun summers while staying whit his aunt and uncle. "I don't know really, I mostly wait until I can go to my friends and stay whit them until school start"

"Oh" Harry could feel that he had said a little to much, why couldn't he just think of something and tell a small lie? "You haven't talked about your friends, what are they like?"

"Well my best friends are Ron and Hermione, Ron come from a huge family of redheads, he is great at chess and are always up for some mischief" Harry said smiling slightly.

"Harry, are you telling me that you are an mischievous little troublemaker?" Hanna gave him an obviously fake stern look.

"Hey I am not that little, I am taller then you!" This resulted in an soft punch to his arm. "Hey, no fighting you crazy!"

"I am not crazy, I am perfectly nice and normal" She put a finger to her cheek trying to look innocent before they both burst in to laughter. It felt good to laugh for what felt like months. "So you and Ron are troublemakers then?"

"Well, he have to twins as older brothers and they are legendary in the craft, we could not let them have all the fun, could we? He is also excellent at chess, you really need to distract him to have even a small chance against him."

"So you cheat too? My my Harry, maybe I was wrong about you."

"That's no fair, it is the only way to beat him!"

"Excuses, excuses."

"Then we have Hermione" Harry began. "She don't really like breaking rules but she have been adventuring whit us, good thing too as she is very smart and good at avoiding trouble. She is helpful and caring always there when you need a hand even if she grumble a bit when Ron and I ask for help whit the essays." Harry smiled to himself, he missed his friends and was more and more looking forward to seeing them, the dread feeling about having to talk about that happened got a bit easier in his stomach, now that Umbridge was gone from Hogwarts it would be a good year!

"Finally!" Hanna exclaimed and Harry just looked at her confused. "You are smiling Harry, you look happy!"

"Oh, what? I was just thinking of my friends."

"Yes you did and now you don't look so miserable anymore, what would people think if I walked whit you looking all sad, they would think I am torturing you!" Harry was used to looks, in the wizarding world as the famous "boy who lived" and in the muggle world as the person walking around in criminally unfitting clothes and if people talk to his aunt and uncle just criminal. "So Harry, do you know what kind of ice cream you want?"

"Chocolate" Harry said, he had given up, he would led her treat him to a tasty ice cream. 

* * *

A/H  
Well that took longer then expected, for some reason it is easy to think of everything in my head while working but when I try to write it down nothing happens.  
Hope you like the chapter I will try get my next update on this and my other story as soon as I can.

If you find any mistakes in the text feel free to tall me, English is not my first language and writing has always been hard for me :) 


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